Any dog lovers here?

[mllevalerie]

I often see posts here about the "too much dogs" thing. And I completely understand that some people are not into dogs 😊
But I am curious if there are people like me who adore dogs? It makes me happy to see them everywhere! In my perfect world everyone would have a dog and dogs would be just everywhere. I never mind getting dirty by a jumping dog or barks or anything like that. It just makes me happy 😊
I came to UK from France not such a long time ago (yes, it is the reason why my English sucks) and I see much more dogs here, than in my place and I just cannot stop smiling each time there is a dog close to me, so actually I am smiling nonstop here 😁

I do this too! “Hellllllo, aren’t you lovely” & they’re right there, lapping it up!

LOVE all the dog pics!

We are in a climate emergency. With the notable exception of assistance and working dogs, no one should be getting dogs - they have a very high carbon paw print.
https://www.ed.ac.uk/impact/research/one-health/truth-about-cats-dogs-and-climate

I love dogs, big massive floppy ones especially! I don’t mind muddy paws or jumping up I like licks and there’s nothing better than a head rub when your feeling sad!

🙄

I love dogs always have but they are dogs not a fur baby. It's a disservice and doesn't do the dog any favours

FFS, there are a ton of anti-dog threads on MN that you could post on. Why come in this one, a thread that is full of nice dog stories and photos, and just try and shit all over it.

My naughty bear!!!

I love dogs, but I totally get why people think there are too many and why they don’t like them.

I prefer dogs to people and there are definitely too many people!!

I refer to my dog as my fur baby. My mum refers to her as her 'gran dog'. How exactly are we causing harm by doing that?
My dog doesn't care what I call her. She is dog, after all.

Sorry but any absolutist statements about dog ownership come across as both ridiculous and also damaging to the environmental cause. Of course we should be moving to using only sustainable brands for our pets (and there are a number in the U.K.) as part of a reduction in meat consumption in our households but in impact terms let’s face it there are far far more important targets than pet food, particularly when it comes to holding the next government to our commitments in global investment.
Its an interesting article @GuardiansPlayList but there are a number of sweeping statements. Dogs & cats (and in particular cats) catch wildlife but there is no published peer reviewed credible research that in the U.K. that they have caused declines in our wildlife population numbers. Sure, you’ll find something from Australia ..but you won’t for the U.K. The very best you’ll be able to come up with is impact on the Scottish wild cat of cross breeding with the domestic moggy. Conversely, there is a good argument that cats play a role in rodent population control and without that there would be an increased usage of the poisons that are decimating our native owl populations.

Except...for a start, the headline is about the owner of a private jet company attempting to defend the environmental credentials of his services. Hardly an unbiased statement.

However, let's take it at face value (and ignore the fact that there are no actual citations in the article, which is odd given that the source is a university). They state that a dog has 98% of the carbon footprint of a Brazilian citizen. That's 2.28 tonnes per year, as opposed to 5.2 tonnes for a UK citizen. How they come to that conclusion given the massive disparity in dog sizes is unknown (did they take the median, or the mean? Or just wave a finger in the air?), because there are no citations, but fine. That's 42.9% of a person, which seems ludicrously high given the weight disparity and the fact that they don't drive, but of course we also don't know if they also took into account the fact that dog food production largely uses byproducts from human food production processes (I very much doubt it).

Dogs also live 13% as long as humans. So...the actual carbon footprint of a dog is 5.79% that of a human in the UK.

Now, when you look a bit deeper, it turns out that the figures they quote are the highest you can possibly find anywhere (see the first point about the main statement coming from the owner of a private jet company, I guess). The consensus seems to be that the median dog has a carbon footprint of around 770kg/year, which is a massive difference, and changes that 5.79% to 1.9%.

So...yeah, turns out that article can be safely ignored. If you don't like dogs, just say so and it would probably have more meaning than that article (but this thread probably isn't for you).

@mllevalerie beautiful dog! Collies are fantastic, if mad and exhausting!

@ntmdino , ‘If you don’t like dogs, just say so”.. well yes but that would have been less self affirming to the PP wouldn’t it. The more extreme someone’s attitude, the more superior they tend to feel about that belief. And from that viewpoint, ‘I just don’t like dogs’ while honest wouldn’t give quite the same level of self satisfaction

Our floppy dog is the best!

I love dogs and have one of my own, but I do think now that there's been so many instances of shitty owners that they've given us all a bad name and we're all tarred with the same brush. Where I live they've recently introduced a year round dog ban on the beach. They used to be allowed on a certain section, but people ignored that and thought the rules didn't apply to them and would go onto the rest of the beach. There was dog poo left everywhere, people dumping poo bags rather than using the bins, so now we've lost the ability to use a lovely beach for a walk and have to go elsewhere

It's a shame that the minority have to ruin it and give the majority a bad reputation

Yep. Here is mine, often screeched at/about as being dangerous, pit bull, banned breed etc.

Always on a lead, always carefully watched in any interaction as he can be a little over enthusiastic

I love dogs. We don't have one of our own at the moment but we dogsit for family and friends. Here's three of them off for a walk.

My stepdad used to have the same dog. What a sweet little angel he was ❤️

Look up Stockholm syndrome.

Dogs are happy to see you because you are their source of food.

I have seven dogs. I also have two more on a regular basis that most likely will become permanent.

Dogs are wonderful. If you haven't had a dog love you then you have led half a life.

Quite clearly you have never had a dog @PurpIe

Do you have a dog?

Dogs are also happy to see strangers and also family members who don't feed them.

Firstly, I am glad that dogs bring you so much joy - we all need some joy in our lives! I don't completely share your feelings about dogs, if I am honest, but if you don't force your view on me then I won't force mine on you! Do you have a favourite breed? I must admit I always had a soft spot for any sort of Spaniel (we owned a collie x, that we are pretty sure was a collie x spaniel of some sort, based on the ears!), and also am partial to the Dachshund and Border Terrier.

My gorgeous girls. When I was growing up I always wanted a dog but my dad hated them. I did eventually get one as a teen still living at home, but now we can’t imagine life without dogs.

I agree 💯